Looking for activities that inspire critical and creative thinking in your primary classroom? Primary Education Thinking Skills is a flexible, fun, and stimulating approach to teaching the higher level problem-solving strategies to young learners that are key elements of the CCSS and vital for success in our complex 21st century global society. This series of six webinar sessions will explore activities scaffolded around the upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (those cognitive skills of convergent analysis, divergent synthesis, and evaluation that are the problem-solving strategies) as well as visual-spatial thinking in a framework that also supports teacher accountability. Activities spiral out from a core cadre of thinking specialists (Dudley the Detective, Sybil the Scientist, Isabel the Inventor, Yolanda the Yarnspinner, Max the Magician, and Jordan the Judge) who share their strategies for problem-solving through entertaining interactive stories and challenging activities. When interfaced with the classroom curriculum, these building blocks of thinking support a firm foundation for successful reading, writing, and learning.
|
|
Session 1- August 6, 2013 1pm
Session 1 will focus on the convergent analysis skills of Dudley the Detective, one of the six thinking specialists from Crystal Pond Woods. What steps should a good detective follow when there is one, and only one, right answer to be determined? Disclaimer: Skip ahead to 3:40 for the start of the webinar. The sound quality is rough at first, but does get better further along in the video. Download the Handout Here. |
|
Session 2- August 28, 2013 4pm
Session 2 will focus on the analysis skills of Dudley’s best friend, Sybil the Scientist. Sybil studies details, attributes, and characteristics. She classifies things into systems. She helps Dudley with the clues he needs to solve mysteries. Disclaimer: Skip ahead to 1:30 for the start of the webinar. Download the Handout Here. |
|
Session 3 will focus on the divergent synthesis skills of Isabel the Inventor who just loves to look at everything around her in new and different ways! Brainstorming lots and lots of ideas is how she loves to spend her days.
Oh No! The Isabel the Inventor Download was damaged. While Isabel is trying to invent a fix for the issue, please click here for the handout that went along with the webinar. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Oh No! The Isabel the Inventor Download was damaged. While Isabel is trying to invent a fix for the issue, please click here for the handout that went along with the webinar. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
|
|
Session 4 will focus on Isabel’s best friend, Yolanda the Yarnspinner, a creative storyteller and writer. Yolanda lives in a world of wonderful words and elegant elaborations that gives depth to her imagery.
Disclaimer: Skip ahead to 4:50 for the start of the webinar. Download the Handout Here. |
|
Session 5 will focus on the visual-spatial thinking specialist, Max the Magician. Max loves shapes and patterns and puzzles. Like his friend, Isabel, he looks at things in different ways, but like his pal, Dudley, Max wants to find the answer to his puzzles!
Disclaimer: Skip ahead to 36:07 for the start of the webinar. Download the Handout Here. |
|
|
|
Session 6 will focus on the evaluative skills of Jordan the Judge, who looks for the best answer when there is not just one right answer. Jordan bases his choice on factual, observable, or measurable criteria.
Disclaimer: Skip ahead to 22:35 for the start of the webinar. Download the Handout Here. |
